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An outrageous development as a Dutch court has decided to put politician and filmmaker Geert Wilders on trial for being too openly critical of Islam, arguing that, "In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to... draw a clear line." Brett Joshpe has written about Wilders and the international war on free speech for our main site.

View all comments (13) | Leave a comment

Jeremiah| 1.21.09 @ 10:35AM

A religion of "Peace and Tolerance" my ass!Those dumb ragheads! They're even worse than liberals! Quite an achievement.

Jeremiah| 1.21.09 @ 10:36AM

By the way, they can sue me!

L. Ross| 1.21.09 @ 11:09AM

Amen, Jeremiah!

We need to be very careful of islam in all its forms. This religion isn't like anything else on the planet. It is a Religious/Political system, which is why it is sooo powerful. muslims don't seek to coexist with western culture, they seek to supplant, replace, and destroy western culture. The horrible thing is, they use our own laws against us in their efforts. I hope that someday, soon, people will wake up and understand that islam the religious/politcal systems doesn't deserve any more protections than the terrorists that system breeds. It is very bad stuff.

Michael Dooley| 1.21.09 @ 11:44AM

Hold your horses, folks. Don't give them (the government ) an excuse to declare the need to extend its protections at the expense of freedom by the example of your rash and overheated curses. In the first place, your statements are not what Conservativism is about.

Leave it to others to defend outragious speech. There are plenty of them.

Conservatives speak out of prudence, reflection and experience. It is we who treat our opponents with genorosity and respect. I take Islamic Fascism as seriously as anyone else. But referring to Muslums as "ragheads" is about as dumb and vicious as calling all Jews "Christ-killers". Fight the real fight. The coersive power of the state is being used against any critical remarks against one religion--even the mildest remarks.

Where Christianity is not allowed to speak out of its soul against "another gospel", martyrs will be the cost.

james23| 1.21.09 @ 11:58AM

Coming soon to a Euroweenie PC republic near you!

Interested Conservative| 1.21.09 @ 12:21PM

Hang down your head Mr. Dooley, cause you're heading down the infamous slippery slope. Though horribly overused into a mockable Orwellian cliche, this case, and similar free-speech issues, may return to the courts original holdings.

If conservatism isn't about conserving freedom, what is it about?

Martin Owens| 1.21.09 @ 1:25PM

Now we know how Anne Frank got handed over....

mohammed allah| 1.21.09 @ 3:03PM

I work fore freedom. So when comes the police. I don´t stop whit mine page mohammedt-shirt.com. This is Not mine Europe.Islam is the end of freedom of speech. So fuck islam and the false prophet.

Scott A Joseph, MD| 1.21.09 @ 4:16PM

Wilders is a great man. Where do we contribute to his defense fund?

Basil Plumley| 1.21.09 @ 5:44PM

Heck, I'm also inclined to donate to Jeremiah's defense fund.

ruth| 1.21.09 @ 10:25PM

I have to say I agree with all of you! I don't know about the allah dude though. Basil, that Jeremiah is an impostor, and a good one at that. We need an Interloper impostor. Any smart-asses out there?

Peter| 1.26.09 @ 8:07PM

Anyone who wants to phrase this as a move from left wing liberals, american style, against a (neo-)conservative parliamentarian is misguided.

The laws against blasphemy and hate speech incited where introduced in the 1930s by a conservative christian Minister of Justice to protect Jews from the rablerousing and hate speech of a rising anti-semitic nazi-movement.

The main thing it shows, is that restrictive laws that conservatives once thought suit their political goals very well, can turn against themselves.

sidnee| 12.12.09 @ 12:07PM

jack wills
ugg new arrivals

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More Blog Posts by Philip Klein

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